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Tomb Raider celebrates its 10th anniversary!

Sara, Njer, Me and Cart says hello!!!

This is a picture of Saravanan, Njer, Cart and me chilling out at our Secondlife house in Arcata. Prior to that, there was a Secondlife Singapore meet, where Vantan has wonderfully narrated.

It was really lovely – with us relaxed, chatting, getting to know each other. A pleasant surprise for me to actually hear conversations punctuated with our Singaporean colloquialisms after hearing virtually none for years.

Secondlife is such a facinating place.

Reflecting back, I think I’ve been fascinated in 3D environments even before the days of Secondlife, There, Activeworlds, Cybertown, and the other 3D communities that we have now.

Meet the original Lara Croft from Tomb Raider:

Angelina Smangelina

The first time I downloaded the demo from Gamecenter (a popular Cnet affiliate during its heydays) and played it, I was completely enthralled.

Although I had to fight against wild beasts in the caves of Qualopec, I had joy exploring every nook and crannies looking for hidden secrets and clues. Though the quality of the graphics weren’t comparable to what we have now, I completely enjoyed looking at the different sceneries. Mentally I pieced the route that I’ve been into a map.

Countless nights I’ve spent in the games. Looking at this clip below brings many memories

It’s hard to imagine that Tomb Raider is having its 10th anniversary already. It seems not too long ago that it was 1997 and I was back in school, stayed up nights playing and being zombified in class the next day.

Time flies by too quickly.

Hmm … I wonder if someone would be crazy enough to make a Tomb Raider sim in Secondlife.

Must see – One of the best Tomb Raider fan vids I’ve seen in youtube

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Girdles are an instrument of a woman’s torture

I usually wear a pair of trousers when I ride on my scooter. But I’m more of a skirt person. I’ve always worn and feel comfortable wearing skirts since for a very long time since skirts fit me better than pants.

Now the front of a Vespa has an open area for the rider to rest their legs together, which makes it suitable for lady riders in skirts. There are even some ladies who are comfortable while riding their scooters in extremely short skirts.

picture of a crazy woman

People around me would always comment, “Aren’t you scared of wearing skirts?” But so far, days has passed by without anything out of the ordinary happening.

Till one day while I was riding along path to the car-park when a sudden gust of wind blew my skirt up. I could not slow down to pull it down. How embarassing! But I feel more sorry for the astonished uncle whom was unfortunately nearby. His face turned a shade darker and then he looked straight down for the rest of his journey – I think he was more embarrassed by it than I was!

But people learn from mistakes. I told myself that the next time that I wear dresses or skirts, I’ll wear a pair of tights underneath.

I chanced upon this pair of tights while walking in Sim Lim Square the other day:

oink oink

The lady manning the store said that wearing a pair would allow someone to burn more calories as opposed to not wearing it. Wow, I thought to myself. 2 in 1! I could have a pair of tights, *and* lose weight at the same time.

The next morning, it took me a good 5 minutes just struggling to put it on. When I was done, the tights clung tenaciously. It wasn’t painful, just a bit uncomfortable and I passed through the entire day with it on.

So lets see. I had it on from 8 am – 6 pm. So that’s 10 hours.

10 x 430 = 4300 calories. I burned 4300 calories! Hooray!

But wait a minute, I still feel the same. I still look the same. I’m not even tired. Most importantly, why am I’m not dead yet? A typical person would burn 2500 calories a day. Too many calories burnt would mean severe exhaustion.

Perhaps I need to wear it long term. But I can’t as the pair of tights wasn’t as strong as I expected and got ripped on the very first day I got it.

So I hunted for another pair of tights. A knee high one this time. After searching unsuccessfully in the entire mall for a pair, I stopped by Minoshe, one of my favourite lingerie shops. I examined and flipped through the rows of black and browns.

“Ooh, this isn’t exactly what I wanted but this will do fine, I think. What is it?”

“This is a girdle“, The shop assistant answered.

“Huh?”

“A girdle is a pair of underwear which you put on to lift your butt and tuck in your tummy”.

“Oh”

“We have two types here. A hard one made of wire and plastic. And the soft one, made of elastic and rubber. The hard one tucks in more, but it’s uncomfortable. The soft one is more comfortable, but it doesnt tuck in as much”

“Oh”

“Why dont you get one and try out?”

“Ok”

Wearing them makes me more self confident while riding my scooter in skirts. I dont worry so much when the wind blows. It looks like I’m wearing a pair of knee high tights.

But one thing is, I dont think it really does tuck in all that much.

Jennifer Lopez will be jealous of me

Looks pretty much the same to me.

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Sick Season is here

Been sick these last few days. Spent the last few days cocooning on my bed that I thought I’d go into a state of metamorphosis and turn into Jeff Goldblum.

When mum found out that I was ill, she diagnosed me as having “love sickness” and decided to make this concoction of water mixed with chopped sirih leaves, rice and chopped onion(!)

I could smell it from across the room.

“Whats this? It smells horrible!” I croaked.

“This is traditional medicine. The sirih leaves will revitalise, the rice will cool your fever and the onion will stimulate your blood flow”

“At the same time, this is for me to spread on you to marinate before cooking you! HAHAHAHA!” She cackled.

I think I was so horrified by the entire olfactory experience that I passed out. But when I woke up shortly after, I felt significantly better.

I looked at myself. No, I did not turn into Jeff Goldblum. However, my entire bed and floor was covered with tiny green leaves as if a giant passed by, flaking green, leafy dandruff.

Sigh. What an eye sore.

—

But on another note, I’m helping Geri to advertise for loving new owners for an adorable 5 month old Labrador/Retriever puppy.

Nike the puppy

Responsible people only please! 🙂

—

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go sleep the remainder of my fever away in my uh … secret garden.

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Shopping is an addiction

I am certain that Sim Lim Square is a building that is full of seductive temptation. In less than an hour, I parted with at least $400 on electronic products alone. I dont even spend that much on clothes and shoes!

Sim Lim Square is known to be one of the most renowned place in Singapore for electronic products at a cheaper price. The first two floors were dedicated to cameras, video recording equiptment as well as home products. Me and my brother liked to hang out in the fourth level onwards for the computer things and we’d go gaga over the computer paraphernalia.

But I dont know what came over me today.

Normally, I’d just go “oh wow”

But today, I went:

I am crazy!

“OMYGOSH! 2ND HAND LAPTOP! ONLY ONE MONTH OLD! $1.3K! OMG ITS BEAUTIFUL! I WANT IT! I WANT IT!”

“OMYGOSH!!! LOOK AT THAT LCD SCREEN! ITS GORGEOUS! ONLY $260!!!I WANT IT! I WANT IT!”

“WOW! 2GB MP4 PLAYER! IT PLAYS MUSIC, MOVIES, RADIO, AND RECORDS SOUND! I WANT IT! I WANT IT!”

“A NEW OPTICAL MOUSE! MINE! HEADPHONES! MINE! I WANT A NEW GRAPHICS CARD! GIVE ME! WAAAH!!!”

If it werent for this small voice inside me, struggling to say, “Marina, you dont NEED all these” I think I would have gone overboard and spent all of my money.

With that, I quickly scoured and fled the place after getting what we were supposed to get to avoid temptation.

Its been researched that shopping has a direct effect on the brain’s pleasure center. The feeling is not dissimilar to the experience for an addict to get their fix. Thus it is very easy for someone to start on getting on high when shopping for their favourite things.

Its a scary thought to know that its very easy to fall into temptations like that.

Though the amount that I spent might not seem to be that much to some people, but to me, the value is still alot – and my fear is that the amount will escalate with time. Children dont spend the same way adults do. People’s expenditure increases as they grow older.

There are already enough people who got themselves into debt on overspending. It would be horrible to include myself to the alumni. I do hope that, that never happens.

pic of BenQ 17" monitor and no, thats not an ipod :P

Have you ever had a moment when you went entirely crazy during shopping?

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What is photography to you?

I stopped by the city on Friday evening. There is a camera shop there that I’ve been meaning to visit. I’ve been using the lens that came with my canon 350D slr camera for a while and I thought that it would be nice to get a set of prime lens. I’ve been taking lovely pictures so far:

pic of Fazilla in the studio shot

pic of man reading paper in a cloth shop in bugis

pic of Hindu temple in Jurong East, Singapore

pic of a woman sewing beads into a pair of slippers in Chinatown, Singapore

pic of a macro shot of a caterpillar, Alexander Hospital, Singapore

But I think it would be good to upgrade my camera lens. I couldn’t bear to pay for a brand new one, which usually costs too much. The Canon EF 70-200mm lenses for example, though a fantastic lens, costs roughly $2,600 dollars! So I thought I’d see the second hand ones, which is just as good.

Unfortunately for me, mother nature decided to rain, which contributed to the crawlingly slow traffic and extremely bad tempered motorists and in the end, I only managed to catch the shop keeper, just as he was about to close his shop for the day. I didn’t have the time to look at their lenses. However I did manage to ask him about the newer canon 400D which interested me.

me: Hi, do you do trade ins?

him: Yes, we do.

me: How much is the Canon 400D?

him: It costs about $1,200 dollars

me: How much is my camera worth?

him: About $500 dollars

EEK!

My eyes bulged out of their sockets. Mum loaned me some money to buy my camera which I bought somewhere in April 2005. It was top of the line then, and it cost $1.5k at the time. Under $2k in total with the accessories.

From $2,000 to $500? To hear my camera depreciated in value that much was extremely shocking to me.

Photography is such an expensive hobby. I’ve yet to reach my aim of having my own studio. Maybe I should take up knitting instead.

But then again, John Cosgrove, the editor of PhotoI did tell me once that it is the photographer, not the equipment that is important. Different people have different stories to tell. And good photographers usually make the person stop a while to look at the pictures.

What do you think?

My all time fave pic - a kitten i stumbled on while walking at where my old house used to be

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Why we still live with our parents

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Juli asked me if I wanted to rent an apartment with her.

Block of flat with flags

I paused for a while. Who doesn’t want the independent life?

To be able to stay out as late as we want, to cook the things we want, to decorate the place how we want it and to do all the things we wanted to do but couldn’t since we were still living with our parents.

Many a days I daydreamed of entertaining guests to my hypothetical large and spacious home, have dinner with home cooked food and then entertain ourselves by playing board games or watch a movie.

But we were just starting to work then, and wasn’t so financially secure.  And now, after some years of working, I’m still not rich, but I can manage more or less.

So why hesitate now? Why not leave the nest now?

It’s interesting to note that many Singaporeans aged 25 and above, are still living with their parents. It’s not uncommon to hear 30 year olds, even 40 year olds living under one roof with their folks.

Living with parents is not a new phenomenon, and in fact, seems to be a more popular trend. In the United States, about 18.8 million 18 – 34 year olds still live with their parents. In Italy, about 80 percent of single Italian men live with their parents.

There are some people who might scoff at our lack of independence and some may find the entire idea as unfathomable. “What? To still have my mother to wash my clothes? And cook for me? Unthinkable!”

For me, I believe that it all boils down to filial piety. As Asians, there is an unwritten mantra for the child to take care of their parents as they grow older. In fact, when I started working, peers would ask, “How much (money) do you give your folks?”

I’d like to be able to give my parents a comfortable life if I can manage it. At the very least, be committed to them as I humanly can.

Sometimes I wonder if I can ever live without my family. I’ve been with them for as long as I remember. For all the disagreements, they are still a part of me. They are the ones who I can fall back and count on. It’s a reassuring familiarity for me – and at the end of the day, it’s a comforting thought to see that each family member is there. I am always reminded by our own mortality and I worry sometimes that I’d live with regrets, that I did not bond as much as I should have.

Eventually, there will be a time when I’ll have to leave the nest to make my own. For the moment, I’ll just enjoy being with my current family a little while longer.

Till then, I’ll still keep on dreaming about entertaining my hypothetical guests in my hypothetical house with my hypothetical award winning book 😛

Award winning book

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Interesting adverts

There are loads of interesting and funny ads out there. Like this website which features loads of facinating print ads around the world.

There are also heaps of them in youtube too – some of them like this very cute calbee commercial, Smooth E facial wash advert, cheers ad and exercise ad

But I think this Cod Roe Pasta Sauce commercial takes the cake

I know some people find it a little freaky, with the kewpie dolls in a red cod roe suit jumping, the mouth of the girl agape ala ‘The Ring’ but the music is really catchy and so hypnotic that I can spend hours just listening to it. And I think you’ll be hypnotised too.

You could hear the full song here, another tarako ad here, and yet another tarako ad here

A sunshine bread van in the parking lot
Spotted this bread van in a parking lot – cool yeah?

Whats the most interesting advert that you’ve seen?

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A night out with old friends

My friend Pam came down to Singapore for a visit.

Orientation Days. Try to find me! :)

We first met during our orientation days and immediately clicked together as she was an extremely friendly, jovial and sweet person. Even though we ended up in different classes, we still hang out together during breaks to discuss about school work or just have a chat together.

And thats how I got to know some of her classmates, like Wong Li, Yong Ping, and Christina. I think Pam was the glue that stuck us together – if she wasnt there, I wouldnt get to know these lovely people. I was amazed to find out that although Pam was from a well to do family, she was never ever stuck up.

The class of 96F

There was a time when I had high fever in school and needed to rest in the sick bay. Pam came over during the break times and asked me how I was and even went to the extent of getting me a drink even though she didnt have to. I knew immediately then that this was a friend to be treasured.

We had loads of fun during our gatherings and events.

Eventually we left for our own different paths.

Till last night, we decided to meet up at Settler’s Cafe Sometimes its hard to believe that we’ve known each other for more than 10 years now. It seems not too long ago, we were experiencing our orientation days, hanging out together, and our lecture together.

I remember the days of gossiping about teachers, of people, and about relationships.

I was tickled to realise that we still talked about the same things, especially about relationships. We spent the entire night till the wee hours of the morning updating each other about our love lives. Poor Yong Ping got bashed by us 4 ladies whom analysed and criticized gave constructive critisism about his approach to wooing women.

Christina, believes that people feel most loved in a relationship in one or more of these 5 ways: quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. I’m pleasantly surprised to know that she will be getting married soon and quite surprised to know that she’s also a baker! I’m sure she didnt plan to be one whilst back in school 🙂

Wong Li became a radiologist and tells us how stressful her work can be as well as creepy past experiences with men. We all go through life and experience, live and learn through it all.

Pam became a plastic surgeon after some years in medical school and she was describing about her experiences at work.

There was once this man who brought his mistress to the hospital. Give her bigger boobs. At first glance, I thought she looked perfect, hour glass figure. But when all the clothes came off, it was all saggy!

All our conversation was revolving about relationships and sleaziness that it felt like I was on a set of Sex and the city.


Christina, Yong Ping, Pam, Wong Li

But we had loads of fun. And it was a really lovely evening out. I do feel quite blessed and honoured to have known these wonderful people.

Life is short, lets enjoy it the best we humanly can :]

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How do you blog for money?

Lately I’m becoming more and more tempted to delve into money making through blogs. Especially when you see loads of people being successful in them. Lilian earned US1k in a month through payperpost, and sha earned about US$390 on adsense alone.

I’d really like to have the same perks too. I’m not strapped, but the additional money would definitely ease for rainy days. I remember the days when the previous company that I worked with decided to cut my pay in half, and then eventually and unfairly dismissed me and how painful it was just to get through with bills and daily transactions.

I don’t want to go through that again.

So I tried different methods of money making though the web. Money making on the web isn’t new. I’m a sceptic at these money making phenomenons, but since I’ve heard so many success stories, I’m willing to give it a try.

I tried PTR – Paid to read emails. An example is Dreamstarmail. In PTR’s, you surf through advertisements through a timed website and get a small amount per advert. I think I earned about $100 one time on a PTR. I spent loads of time to get that amount. The money was supposed to be credited to me, but it wasn’t. And after a while, the website went down.

I had an ex colleague whom favoured with the virtues of HYIP – High Yield Investment Programs. This is where you credit in a sum of money and are supposed to get back a high returns in a span of a week to a month.

However, I DON’T recommend HYIP’s as most of them are scams. You’ll never see your money again. The owners will give you some money as a carrot for you to invest more, and once you and many others are enticed, they will take away all of your money and shut down their website.

Just last year I tried adsense. But I got disabled in just a week due to ‘invalid clicks’ – I think it could be due to the traffic from blogexplosion.com, but I’m not so sure. I’m just left with a bad feeling.

Other things I tried was making stuff through zazzle. It was fun enough, but I earned less than a dollar on a tee shirt I sold . And I don’t really have things to sell on online auctions that anyone would want.

Suffice to say that I don’t think I’ll be quitting my dayjob any time soon 😛

How the heck do people like SaveKaryn.com get people to give money to her? She used to have a $20,000 credit due to HER overspending and she set up a website to ask for donations – Now all her bills are paid for, she’s publishing a book, has interviews from top television networks and a movie will be done about her in the future.

It’s not fair, I tell you.

Thus, I’m contemplating on blogging for money. Payperpost being one of them where you do reviews and earn money, and the paypal credited to you at the end of the month.

But as much as it is a possible viable option, I’m not really looking forward of appearing as if I’m shoving advertisements down everyone’s throats. There has been quite a number of blogs that I’ve stumbled through which were so full of adverts and paid for posts that it just looked unappetizing. Especially when the writing is skewed to be so positive about something even when the person hasn’t actually even tried the product!

I don’t think I’m being moralistic – But personally for me, I think I’d like to give a better review of something once I’ve actually tried it to give my honest opinion – what I like about it, what I don’t like about it and what can be improved about it.

But the prospect of earning money is definitely very tempting. And here is the dilemma.

What do you think?